Ben Cruachan – natural history

Yesterday it was on again, the July Orange-bellied Parrot survey, and we couldn’t have struck a better day, sunny, with hardly a cloud in the sky for much of the time. The count also takes in two other neophemas, the Elegant and Blue-winged Parrots, plus any other seed eating birds that may utilise the same habitat, and at Jack Smith Lake, our stamping ground, it’s the Blue-wings that find their way on to the count form. When we turned off the highway to start the long run down to the lake, ten Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flew over, a good omen perhaps, time would tell. On to Middle Road, and we hadn’t gone far before we pulled up to check a Koala sitting just off the bitumen, we feared it may have been hit by a car, but there didn’t seem to be any sign of injury. We gave it a gentle nudge or two but it refused to move, this had us a bit worried so we decided to notify a local veterinarian, however as soon as I got the phone out it had second thoughts and moved off, proving its legs were OK. It was still quite cold, and it may have been an old animal, if so I knew exactly how it felt, it’s hard to get moving on these winter mornings.
Relieved, we took off again, and saw lots of bird activity along the way, adding to our feeling of optimism. Birding has been a bit subdued this winter, and we felt we were due for a change of luck. During the May survey we sampled a new area, west from where Warrigal Creek enters the lake. We saw nothing on that occasion, but the habitat looked good, so that was our first effort for the day. Striated Fieldwrens were in their usual abundance, their plumage striking with the onset of the breeding season; parrots however were nowhere to be seen and we thought we’d drawn a blank, but then, nearly a kilometre and a half from our starting point, bingo.
I spotted half a dozen on the fence wires, and on looking over towards Peter, I saw him waving, he’d found a good sized flock amongst the tussocks. We checked them out and counted over fifty Blue-wings, a good start, then looking over to a mud flat we saw a small flock of waders feeding. Red-capped Plovers were plain to see,

but then, there were the ones we’d been missing out on, Double-banded Plovers from New Zealand. At this time of year they will be flocking up for the trip back home to breed, and sure enough there were a couple in breeding plumage, the richly coloured breast bands quite spectacular. A nice sighting, but shortly afterwards we scanned the lake bed and saw a big flock, a rough count giving us one hundred and twenty five birds, with quite a few in full regalia. Unfortunately for us they were wary and we failed to get a picture of a good one, the best I could do is in the gallery with the rest of my pictures of the day.
After partaking of sustenance we moved on towards our second area, making a good sighting on the way of a pair of the scarcer Brush Bronzewings . This is a longer walk, about five kilometres return, and it didn’t let us down. Another good flock of Blue-wings was at the usual spot near the permanent water, and our count zoomed up to one hundred and ten. These were easy to check as they sat on the fence wires in the sun, they wouldn’t let us get too close though, so our photos were pretty soft after much cropping. They are plain little parrots when perched, their real beauty is revealed when they are flying and banking in the sun, the rich blue of their wings, and yellow of the spread tail feathers then shows up. You can get some idea of the wing colour on one at the bottom of the picture here.

After turning the corner we headed south, and halfway along to the next turn our eyes popped, there in broad daylight, brazen and shameless, were two Red Foxes locked in the embrace of love. Think of us what you will dear readers when I confess that yes, we did watch, ….. and took pictures, ….. and laughed our heads off when they attempted to run away if we approached too closely.

Let a veil be drawn.
Around the last corner, and we were on to parrots again, the count reached one hundred and eighty as we flushed them while walking through the tussocks, the early omen had fulfilled its promise. It wasn’t over yet however, back at the vehicle we had lunch, and after talking it over decided to vary our routine and drive to the furthest point of the lake to sample a new area. The Roller as it’s known has been the location for a pelican breeding colony in the past when the climate was wetter, nowadays it’s virtually dry, but when we arrived we found the mud flats damp from recent rain, and another flock of Double-banded Plovers was in residence. The Roller is separated from the main lake by a strip of higher tussock covered ground, and when we reached it Blue-winged Parrots again flushed and took our count to approximately two hundred and twenty birds.
What a day, nearly ten kilometres of hiking, once again no OBPs, but the best Blue-wing count for years, and when we drove past a fence dotted with Flame Robins, our day was complete. Any reasonable person would think that we’d be content for a while after a day like that, but only ten K’s up the highway we were already planning our next outing, that’s birding for you.
There are a few more pictures from the day here. The first is a Blue-wing on the ground amongst tussocks in saltmarsh, favoured habitat.